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Evidence suggests that the warm species diversity standard of having at least two warm season grasses contributing at least 50 percent of the total relative plant cover is apparently taken from earlier Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division's Vegetation Guidelines which may no longer be applicable. RECOMMENDATIONS Monitoring of the revegetation status of the 1983 and 1987 reclaimed sites, these areas being at least ten years old and potentially eligible for final bond release at the Southfield Mine site suggests that both sites appear to satisfy the apparent revegetation success standards with respect to total plant cover, forage production and species diversity. However, there are obvious deficiencies with respect to the revegetation success standard of warm season grasses associated with these sites. Unfortunately, it appears that this apparent deficiency might be more a result of changing regulatory polices than anything else. Our recommendation is to revise the warm species diversity standard and then think about whether it is advantageous to commence final bond release monitoring on these older stands. Examination of the species diversity standard reveals that this standard was proposed and approved with no apparent consideration to the site specific conditions found at the Southfield Mine. Previous monitoring efforts documented the unreasonable nature of the old single species diversity standard of not having more than 40 percent relative plant cover. This change was submitted and approved as recommended based on the earlier monitoring data. With this monitoring effort, it would appear that the warm season grass standard of having two species comprising at least 50 percent of the relative cover at this location cannot be justified by the existing data obtained from the Grassland Reference Area. According to the revegetation monitoring schedule in the Southfield Mine permit, each reclaimed site is to be sampled during years 3, 7, 9 and 10 after initial vegetative reestablishment. In order to clarify future revegetation monitoring, Table 10, Revegetation Monitoring Schedule has been prepared showing which reclaimed areas need to be sampled in each year. The 1983 and 1987 reclaimed areas would be sampled as determined necessary by EFCI. Since the vegetation characteristics obtained from the Grassland Reference Area in 1997 where identical to the total plant cover value obtained from the 1987 sampling of this site, there is no reason why this area should again be sampled for purposes of interim reclamation monitoring. 9